September 13, 2001 — Three men who celebrated as the Twin Towers crumbled are facing deportation, The Post has learned. The men, described as illegal immigrants from the Middle East, were arrested Tuesday afternoon in a white Chevy van near the Meadowlands based on a tip from witnesses who saw them “cheering” and “jumping up and down” in Liberty State Park after the attack, a source said.

Witnesses took the plate number and the FBI sent out an alert to area cops, reading: “Vehicle possibly related to New York terrorist attack . . . Three individuals with van were seen celebrating after initial impact and subsequent explosion.”

Port Authority cops nabbed the three as they drove along Route 3 in East Rutherford in the van, which had the words “Urban Moving Systems” painted on it. After grilling the men and searching the van in vain for explosives, the FBI turned the men over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for deportation.

The feds declined to release the men’s identities or nationalities. “The agency has decided it will not make any comments about this at this time,” said INS spokesman Kerry Gill. Officials at “Urban Moving” claimed to be unaware of what had happened.

FIVE MEN DETAINED AS SUSPECTED CONSPIRATORS
BERGEN RECORD (New Jersey) Wednesday, September 12, 2001

www.bergen.com/news/2bombvan200109125.htm

By PAULO LIMA Staff Writer

Eight hours after terrorists struck Manhattan’s tallest skyscrapers, police in Bergen County detained five men who they said were found carrying maps linking them to the blasts. The five men, who were in a van stopped on Route 3 in East Rutherford around 4:30 p.m., were being questioned by police but had not been charged with any crime late Tuesday.

However, sources close to the investigation said they found other evidence linking the men to the bombing plot. “There are maps of the city in the car with certain places highlighted,” the source said. “It looked like they’re hooked in with this. It looked like they knew what was going to happen when they were at Liberty State Park.”

Sources also said that bomb-sniffing dogs reacted as if they had detected explosives. The FBI seized the van for further testing, authorities said. Sources said the van was stopped as it headed east on Route 3, between the Hackensack River bridge and the Sheraton hotel. As a precaution, police shut down Route 3 traffic in both directions after the stop and evacuated a small roadside motel near the Sheraton.

Sources close to the investigation said the men said they were Israeli tourists, but police had not been able to confirm their identities. Authorities would not release their names. East Rutherford officers stopped the van after the FBI’s Newark Office broadcast an alert asking surrounding police departments to look for a white Chevrolet van, police said.

“We got an alert to be on the lookout for a white Chevrolet van with New Jersey registration and writing on the side,” said Bergen County Police Chief John Schmidig. “Three individuals were seen celebrating in Liberty State Park after the impact. They said three people were jumping up and down.”

East Rutherford officers summoned the county bomb squad, New Jersey state troopers, and FBI agents, who waited alongside the van as prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office tried to obtain a warrant to search the van late Tuesday, Schmidig said. The FBI alert, known as a BOLO or “Be On Lookout,” was sent out at 3:31 p.m. It read:

“Vehicle possibly related to New York terrorist attack. White, 2000 Chevrolet van with New Jersey registration with ‘Urban Moving Systems’ sign on back seen at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ, at the time of first impact of jetliner into World Trade Center. “Three individuals with van were seen celebrating after initial impact and subsequent explosion. FBI Newark Field Office requests that, if the van is located, hold for prints and detain individuals.”

State police Col. Barry W. Roberson confirmed the traffic stop at a late night news briefing at state police headquarters in Trenton. He would not elaborate, however. A business traveler staying at the Homestead Studio Hotel said she watched state troopers drive the suspects away in a procession of state police cars about 5 p.m. “First, they told us we could hang out in the lobby, but then they told us to leave,” the traveler said.

At 10 p.m., the hotel guest said she could see at least two police officers searching through the van while a crowd of other officers kept their distance.